A rehabilitation protocol is part of the standard operating procedures for many fire services. The rehabilitation protocol typically provides for firefighters involved in operations at an incident scene to be rotated through a rehabilitation area based on criteria such as, for example, a “two-cylinder rule” wherein a firefighter is required to attend the rehabilitation area after a second air cylinder has been exhausted. The reasons for attending the rehabilitation area include controlling the pace of physical activity (by providing rest periods), avoiding prolonged exposure to extreme temperatures, re-hydration and medical evaluation.
The rehabilitation area is located outside of the fire zone and away from the exhaust fumes where protective clothing and equipment can be safely removed. Typically, the rehabilitation area includes supplies of water (or other liquids) and full air cylinders. The rehabilitation area can also provide shelter from precipitation, wind and sun. While in the rehabilitation area firefighters can be evaluated by paramedical staff and receive minor treatment if required.
Typical rehabilitation areas can take many forms depending on the size and severity of incident and on the scope and duration of operations. In one example, the rehabilitation area can be a tarp that is laid out on the ground or indoors to delineate the area in which the firefighters can rest, cool down, re-hydrate and replenish and in which they can lay-out their equipment and change their air cylinders. In some cases the rehabilitation area can be an ad hoc area in the vicinity of the firefighting equipment (i.e. vehicles) in which the firefighters congregate during rehabilitation. In these examples the rehabilitation area offers little in the way of amenities to facilitate the rehabilitation process with firefighters sitting on the ground or on vehicle bumpers and simply laying out their equipment on the ground or hanging it from whatever perch is available.
In a more elaborate, and less common, form the rehabilitation area can comprise a mobile rehabilitation vehicle specifically equipped for the rehabilitation function. Such vehicles are not commonly used as they are beyond the budgets of many fire services and even where they do exist, would typically only be deployed to incidents of a magnitude that warrants the logistic necessary for establishing a vehicle based rehabilitation area on scene.
What is needed is a relatively low cost, easy to deploy self-supporting fire fighting equipment station that provides amenities that facilitates the rehabilitation of firefighters attending an incident scene.